Saturday, June 22, 2024

Terms and Conditions apply?



Sermon for the fourth Sunday after Trinity

Think about your average day.

How many transactions 
take place.

How many times
do you say something like, 
"if you do this
then I'll do that"

or

"I'll do this
on the condition 
that this happens"?

We're very good 
at entering into 
contracts and covenants.

And when those
contracts and covenants 
are broken
this is where 
we bring in the Law
so that order and fairness
can be re-established.

You you think 
things are like that
with God?

[PAUSE]

As Christians
we are part of 
the New Covenant 
on which the sacraments are based.

If we fulfill our side,
God fulfills His.

If a priest offers up
bread and wine
at the Mass
with the intention 
of doing what the Church
has always done 
for the means of Grace,
then God gives us His Grace
in His Real, True, Physical Presence
which we consume 
In order to be more like Him.

We have God's promise
that if we do this in remembrance of Him
He is there.

So it seems that God
does enter into transactions 
with us.

But what of our Salvation?
What of the business of Sin?

Does God not keep score
of our wrongdoing?

[PAUSE]

The typical Anglican answer
is "yes and no".

It depends on whether we keep score.

It depends on whether 
our love for others 
is conditional, legalistic 
or transactional.

Jesus tells us that 
this is so.

If our approach 
is to judge our neighbour
to determine if He is worth loving,
whether he will return our investment,

if we judge our neighbour 
and decide that he is too sinful 
to love,

If we judge our neighbour 
and decide
that his sins are
unforgivable 

then that's how we will see 
God's love for us.

If we judge others 
by our own criteria
then we will expect 
to be judged by that criteria
because that criteria 
will be all that we know.

If we are unmerciful 
then we will expect no mercy 
because we cannot know
what mercy is.

If we are unforgiving 
then we will not receive forgiveness 
because we don't know
what forgiveness is.

If terms and conditions apply
to the way we see our relationship 
with God and neighbour 
then that's all we can expect.

We trap ourselves 
in a cage of terms and conditions 
even if we don't think 
that those terms and conditions 
apply to us.

This is not the relationship 
that God wants with us,
His Church.

His love, 
His mercy,
His forgiveness 
are always give 
in superabundance.

In the boxes He gives us
marked Love, Mercy, Forgiveness 
there is no bubble wrap,
no foam blocks 
no paper packing.

Each box is filled to the brim
with just what it says
on the box.

There is nothing 
to quibble about,
there are no terms and conditions.

At the heart,
Christianity is about
this love of God 
for us
without any limits on His love
except those limits 
we put upon ourselves.

[PAUSE]

We sin, yes,
but forget about the law court;
forget about the idea 
of God as judge, jury and gaolor.

See God as being on our side,
hating the sin 
that separates us from Him,
and wanting us 
to come back to Him,
giving us the Way back
through Our Lord Jesus Christ,
and asking only 
for our love, trust and fidelity 
which can only come 
from our free will.

[PAUSE]

What we struggle with,
in life,
are the terms and conditions 
which we insist upon 
to protect ourselves 
from being hurt.

Following Christ is painful,
but His painful death
upon the Cross shows us
that it is worth it 
to embrace the truth 
which sets us free.

Terms and conditions 
need not apply.


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